A selfless safety message

Elders Gatton’s Jason Blackwood has been commended with a national safety award for his recent involvement in Elders’ latest Stand Up Speak Up campaign.

Mr Blackwood, a pink shirted agronomist, husband and father of three, shared his story with the Elders network following the shock news of being diagnosed with stage four metastasised melanoma to numerous parts of his body.

“The process of filming the video was an interesting few days and something I hadn’t experienced before, it was very unique and gave me a different perspective,” Mr Blackwood said.

Mr Blackwood explained that he has always been fairly open about his story and encourages people to look after themselves.

“I don’t believe I can cure the world, but we get very busy in our day to day lives and we forget to look at ourselves – and we are the most important asset we own,” he said.

Mr Blackwood presented his story at the Northern Zone Agronomy conference and the message was so profound that 100% of attendees downloaded the Sun Safety app whilst at the event. [jason-blackwood]

Elders’ North Zone General Manager, Greg Dunne said the amount of people that have gone and had skin checks, including himself, since Jason told his story is fantastic.

“Jason’s attitude and work ethic is unquestionable given what he has gone through and this is a credit to his, his family and work colleagues at Gatton who have supported him throughout the process,” Mr Dunne explained.

“For anyone to stand and speak with such openness and honesty in what can only be described in a very tough time in his personal life to ensure all staff get such an important message, speaks volumes about the character of the individual.”

Elders’ general manager financial services, Liz Ryan, made skin checks available for all Elders’ district banking managers as part of the National Banking Conference and since the Stand Up Speak Up video there has been at least one individual who received an early diagnosis following a skin check promoted by Mr Blackwood’s story.

Mr Blackwood’s safety award provides the opportunity to attend the Elders annual awards night in Adelaide this December, and put him in the running to win the overall national safety award amongst other high-performers from across the country.